You're The Inspiration
by pottermommy1118
Summary: A series of completely random songfics. They cover many different ships and time frames. They will cover many of the different stories I have written. They are in no particular order. It was just something that I found fun. Feel free to read and share with me as I share with you all my inspirations! Rated for possible adult scenes and intense emotions.
1. Introduction

**_This will be a series of totally random one shot songfics_**

**_They will update randomly as I'm inspired to write them._**

**_There really is no plot line._**

**_One of my most faithful readers SpeedsOneandOnly asked me to write ONE song fic_**

**_And well you know me, it got me thinking..._**

**_I had never done it, but it put a major plot bunny in my head._**

**_What if, I did do it. _**

**_And I could do lots of ideas, mine, and maybe some of yours too!_**

**_I always listen to songs, they always give me ideas,_**

**_and make me think of specific characters _**

**_what if I took it futher..._**

**_And I wrote it out…._**

**_A series FULL_**

**_of all the songs that gave me inspirations._**

**_I never really base the chapters in stories on them, but I have SOOO many playlists._**

**_For ALL my different storylines and couples and ships._**

**_So this will bounce between my stories._**

**_It will bounce between genres and ages and people._**

**_So this first one is for YOU!_**

_SpeedsOneandOnly_

**_It's your song, your couple choice, and I love it._**

**_While we're going along, feel free to PM me or to Review._**

**_Just a normal review or questions or whatever…OR you can play too._**

**_And hit me up!_**

**_With a request or an idea, include the song title, the artist, the storyline and the couple, _**

**_And I'll see if I can write it!_**

**_If I can write it, I'll post it and credit it to you._**

**_My idea of a songfic, might be different than you've read before…_**

**_I hear the song,_**

**_And I write what it makes me see in my head._**

**_I may use some of the actual words, or the scenery,_**

**_Or maybe nothing at all really…_**

**_It's just what it made me see…_**

**_I listen to the specific song on repeat, the ENTIRE time I'm writing the oneshot. _**

**_So..thus…SONGFIC_**

**_Okay, let's get rolling!_**

**_I'll include the song name and group in every story,_**

**_As well as the couple, and which storyline it relates to._**

**_I suggest listening to the song while you read. _**

**_I am not JKR or the band that sings the real songs and I didn't write any of the songs!_**

**_I give you…_**

**YOU'RE THE INSPIRATION…**

_(A title which was inspired by a song incidentally enough LOL)_


	2. The Best Of Me: HP-GW

**_This song idea and couple was the inspiration for the entire serires._**

**_It was given to me by _**

**SpeedsOneAndOnly **

**_Thank you for the BRILLINT inspiration for a fun random series._**

**_And everyone feel free to PM or review requests and or ideas._**

**_Or just to review to do it, because I love them and it makes me update more._**

**_I am not JKR nor am I any member of The Starting Line Nor did I write this song_**

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**STORY 1**

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**The Best Of Me**

Song:** The Best Of Me**

By:** The Starting Line**

Couple:** Harry Potter and Ginny Weasley**

This specific story fits in the ATSR story line.

And takes place at the beginning of July,

After the final battle.

He is 17 and she is 16.

-0-0-

Harry was leaning against a tree outside the burrow. The hard bark scratching against his back, through the thin white shirt he wore. His eyes were closed as he felt the light summer breeze play across his face and through his hair. He had purchased a mp3 player a few weeks back while visiting muggle London with Hermione. He had the headphones on and the volume up loud. It helped drown out all the overwhelming thoughts that were constantly rolling through his head. He sat there the beat pulsing through his head for a long time alone. He was content to sit think about how things were working out, and what was going to happen with his friends, and his family. Just happy that a future was even possible at all, let alone that it was shaping up to be a future that he was looking forward to.

He knew when Ginny had walked past him and sat beside him, leaning against the other side of the tree. Her familiar scent washed over him, making his head swim with thoughts of her. He stayed quiet and pondered the memories that spanned over the last few weeks and from their time together in his 6th year. He noticed when she reached over and cut off his music. It hadn't taken her long to figure out how to use the device, and she had quickly requested one of her own, which he gladly had supplied her with. He was happy to give her anything, as long as it meant that she was actually there, and was actually his. The thoughts in his head were still surreal sometimes.

They both sat there in silence for a few minutes, not really needing to say anything, just enjoying the fact that they were together, and nothing was trying to tear them apart. After a few minutes he reached up and pulled the headphones from his head, letting them rest around his neck. He rolled his head to the side so he could see her. He smiled at the sun shining through the leaves onto her face.

"Hey you." He said softly.

Ginny's chocolate brown eyes met his and she smiled serenely. "Hey yourself." She said simply.

It still amazed him that they needed so few words to say so much….she had apparently been thinking along the same lines. "You know…does it ever surprise you that we didn't outgrow this?" she asked.

Harry looked at her questioningly and left his head leaning against the tree. "What do you mean?" he asked her, it had never occurred to him in their time apart to not want to be with her.

Ginny chewed her lip as she thought of how to explain what she meant, she looked away from his emerald gaze simply because it was easier to think properly without getting lost in his eyes and just wanting to kiss him. "Well…I guess partly I mean me. The fact that I never outgrew having a crush on you…Is that weird? That I knew I loved you at 10 years old? But…mostly, I mean after you ended things, and you left. Shouldn't we have outgrown one another? Neither of us is the same as we were over a year ago." She said.

Harry looked at her profile for a long moment before turning his head and looking up at the sky. "Well, the first part, you being 10…I think that was a bit different than now. It was just a little girl crush, and it just so happened to grow into something more. I don't think you outgrew it because we kinda well, grew into it." He said uncertainly. "Does that make sense?" he asked her.

Ginny laughed and shook her head, "No…not really, but that wasn't the main point anyways." She said, glancing at him and grinning.

Harry laughed along with her and looked sideways at her, catching her glance and smiling in response. "Why would we have outgrown wanting to be with one another?" he asked her.

Ginny shrugged. "Like I said, so much happened, so much changed who you were, and who I am. I'm not that 5th year little girl that was stunned and elated to be dating you finally….and you're not that 6th year boy that was nervous, and confused, and happy to be with me."

"I might not be the same 16 year old I was then Gin…and I might not be nervous…well, most of the time, you give me plenty of reason to be nervous…I might not be confused anymore…but I am still happy to be with you…and I hope even if you're different that you're elated to be with me." He teased slightly.

Ginny laughed and slid closer to him, nudging his shoulder as they still leaned against the tree. "Of course I am…and you're avoiding the question." She pointed out.

Harry pulled up a few blades of grass and played with them as he thought. "I never thought of wanting anyone but you after I had you. It never even crossed my mind that it was possible to outgrow being with you." He said sincerely, making her smile.

"Not once? Not that whole time?" she asked, her voice betraying her by showing the slight lack of confidence.

"Nope…not once. I mean, it's not like I broke it off because I didn't want to be with you Gin. I thought I had to. I thought to keep you alive I had to let you go." He said, knowing she knew that, but also knowing that neither of them fully said any of it really.

Ginny stayed quiet for a few minutes, and so did he, both of them remembering their separation from that time of their lives, being apart, being separated, and neither of them wanting to be. The breeze picked up a bit and Harry felt her lean against his shoulder, her fiery hair, falling over his shoulder as well as hers. He dropped the blades of grass and lifted a hand, toying with a strand of her hair instead.

"Tell me about it." She requested.

Harry's hand stilled though he kept hold of the hair that was wrapped around his fingers, he stared at the deep red against his skin. "Tell you about what?" he asked her.

"Tell me about when you were gone. I want to know about it." Ginny said softly.

Harry's voice faltered for a moment as he thought about it. "What parts do you want to know?" he asked her, willing to tell her anything she wanted to know. He knew he wanted to be with her, he was willing to share everything with her.

Ginny understood all of that from his answer. "Right now….tell me what you're thinking about right now…the parts of it that you're thinking about right now." She said, wanting him to tell her what he wanted to.

Harry let his eyes close again. "It felt…so alone." He told her truthfully, remembering.

"But Hermione was there, and Ron…you had one another." She said.

Harry shook his head, "Ron left for part of the time…but, even when he hadn't, and even with Hermione always by my side. It felt lonely. I knew that physically I wasn't alone. That even in the end I really wouldn't be, that other's would fight, even if it was just me and Hermione, I wouldn't fight alone. But inside, I felt alone." He said very quietly.

Ginny frowned at that and looked at him, studying the planes of his face while his eyes were closed. "But why?" she asked.

A small sigh left his lips. "Firstly, because I knew that while I wouldn't fight alone, I was alone in the fact that I did have to fight. I had to be the one to end it all. Dumbledore told me once, that it didn't have to be that way. That it was Voldemort and myself that would bring the prophecy to fruition." He said, and in that moment he was proud of her not wincing or anything at the name. He continued on, as she remained silent, though he did start twirling her hair again.

"Voldemort didn't have to go after me, but he did, and that started the prophecy. But I didn't have to fight back. I could have run. I could have joined him to avoid fighting him. I didn't have to try and defeat him. Not really… It wasn't mandatory, no one would have made me. But myself… And that meant that I absolutely DID have to fight. No one else could or would beat him. No one else HAD to do it. But because he and I had both silently agreed to see this prophecy fulfilled, I HAD to fight. I had to face him, and that was a very lonely feeling. To be the only one that absolutely had to do it." He said.

Ginny contemplated his words before carefully choosing her own. "But you didn't have to. No one would have blamed you. "

Harry left his eyes closed, focusing only on his thoughts and the feel of her hair running through his fingers. "I would have blamed me. I assumed….and I am pretty sure I assumed correctly….that he would go after the people I love to get to me. I couldn't let the people that had come to mean everything to me die. Not for me. Not anymore. I did have to fight. I couldn't sit aside and watch people that I loved and that loved me die…not anymore. I had to fight for my parents, for Sirius, for Dumbledore, for…for Cedric. And for the people alive, that I needed to keep living for Hermione and Neville, and Luna, for Ron and your family. I was fighting for Remus, and Tonks and the order and my friends. I had to fight for you…I had to fight for me…" he tried to explain.

"You know…he would have come for me anyways. Had they sent me back to school. Breaking up with me wouldn't have stopped that, he knew you were close to me, everyone in that school knew we dated. Everyone knew of your alliance with my family. We didn't have to break up." She pointed out.

Harry sighed and opened his eyes, he looked at his hand and then over at her. "I know that. I know that now…I wasn't really thinking completely clearly then. I was trying to do the right thing. I was NOT trying to hurt you." He said firmly before sighing deeply. "That, that was the other part of the being alone…I missed you, desperately. There were nights I would lay and look at the marauder's map and just stare at your name. I would think over and over of the stolen moments we had together. Of that small time, where you made me blissfully happy. Where I had you." He admitted.

Ginny bit her lip. "I thought of them too." She said, knowing that it would have taken a lot for him to tell her that.

"I felt empty, not knowing who you were with, or what was happening to you. Not knowing if you were falling in love with someone else, if you were moving on. Not knowing if you were happy, or if I had made you miserable. I promised Ron I would leave you alone, that I wanted you to move on. When inside I desperately didn't want you too, and it made me feel absolutely isolated, unable to even admit outloud how much I wanted you. It hurt…and...through all of it, I knew and know that by breaking up with you that I hurt you too. I never meant to hurt you Gin. I only wanted to keep you safe. I only wanted to do what was right. If I was gone, I wanted you safe, and secure, and to be allowed to move on if you wanted to. I never wanted to hurt you." He finished.

Ginny met his eyes and smiled slightly. "I know that now. And I knew that then. It didn't keep it from hurting though." She said truthfully.

Harry frowned, not breaking the eye contact. "I know…I know it didn't, I'm sorry. If I could change anything…" he said slowly but she shook her head.

"I wouldn't want you to change it." She said.

He looked confused. "Why? Why wouldn't you change it?" he asked her.

"Because, you being gone, and me not knowing if you were coming back to me. And not knowing if you came back if you would even really want to come back to me. It made me different. And it made me who I was when you did come back." Ginny said thoughtfully.

"Explain." Harry said simply.

Ginny took a moment to compose her thoughts. "We still feel the same attraction, and desires for one another that we did when we dated before. But now, other feelings, they're different. They're…." she trailed off, not really completely confident in her words.

Harry let his hand fall from her hair and he took her hand in his, interlacing their fingers. "They're stronger now." He finished for her.

She sighed a very relieved sigh, which amused him slightly as he thought she would have been certain of that by now.

"Yes, they are. But, had you not broken up with me, and you left…I would have maintained this constant longing for my boyfriend, and a belief that you were my future and I wouldn't have been who you need me to be now. You being gone…and not just physically gone…but you being not mine…it changed me just like your time away changed you." She told him.

Harry looked at her. "Tell me about it." He said, repeating her words.

Ginny smiled slightly at the repetition, she decided to play along. "About what?" she asked.

Harry grinned and softly kissed her temple. "About when I was gone…and when I left you alone." He said, his voice muffled into her hair.

Ginny leaned her head against his lips and looked up at the bits of visible blue sky through the leaves. "I knew why you broke up with me. And I knew why you left. I didn't know what you were doing, but I knew you were fighting. And I was terrified…but we all were." She told him, still looking up.

Harry pulled his lips from her head and looked down at her face, he was so close he could count her freckles if he wanted to, he listened quietly.

"But, I was terrified for so much more. I was….stupidly…afraid that on some level, you broke up with me because when the war was over you would want to be free. I knew and know that you could pretty much pick any girl 15 and up and you could have her Harry. You're Harry Potter, the effing chosen one." She pointed out as if he didn't know.

"But I don't want them…I only want you." Harry reassured her and despite the fact that she knew that already, it still made her feel better on some subconscious level and she smiled a slight smile as she looked away from the sky and back to his face.

"I know that now. I worried then. But while you were gone. I realized that no matter what you wanted from your future, that I had still had to fight for mine…and you know, hoped not so secretly that it would include you… So I fought my own fight. I fought the parts of the battles that you couldn't. And it gave me a perspective on the war and the battles that you had, that I never really did. And all of that, meant that when I saw you that morning, after the battle. And you were broken, and hurt, and torn, and tired, and battle hardened, and wary, and…scared to even truly believe it was over. So was I. And that meant that I could understand, and that I could be what you needed. But…it also made you exactly what I needed too." She told him, her gaze not moving from his at all.

Harry lifted a hand and wiped it over her cheek, wiping away a stray tear that she hadn't even realized had fallen, he smiled softly. "You are exactly what I needed, then, and now." He told her. Ginny smiled and tilted her head forward, as he did, letting their foreheads rest against one another. "Before when we dated, you had the pieces of me that I could let you have, but now…Gin, you have everything. You have all the pieces… It doesn't matter that we're different, or that we grew up so much and so fast. It matters that you have the only piece of me that really matters. You completely have my heart." He told her.

Ginny let her lips barely brush against his. "Well, that's the very best part of you Harry James Potter." She said softly. "I'll never give you up. I love you." She told him, her voice quietly confident.

Harry spoke against her lips, not pulling back. "I will always give you the very best of me…and I will never ask you to give me up again. It's over. I'm yours, and I want you to be mine, more now than I ever have. You don't just grow out of love Gin. And I absolutely love you." He said softly.

She didn't let him say anymore as she crashed her lips more firmly to his, no more words were needed. In fact, all the words that had been spoken weren't really needed, but they made all the difference in the world to them both. None of their words had been spoken above a whisper, their entire conversation had been more hushed than the breeze. But the quiet words spoke loudly to both of them, and resonated deep within them as their lips moved in perfect sync with one another, both knowing that they would never give up, that neither of them ever had really given up the other, that from this moment, they would both give the other the very best of themselves.


	3. How Did I Fall In Love With You: TL-VW

**_Thank you for reading and for the reviews!_**

**_This one, is one from my own Teddy/Vic playlist_**

**_And it takes place nearly ENTIRELY in Teddy's head._**

**_Let's ah…throw a slight rating warning up on this one._**

**_I am not JKR nor am I any member of The Backstreet Boys Nor did I write this song_**

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**STORY 2**

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**How Did I Fall In Love With You?**

Song: **How Did I Fall In Love With You**

By: **Backstreet Boys**

Couple: **Teddy Lupin and Victoire Weasley**

Covers the ATSR saga/Soar Into the Sun

This would be his 6th year, her 5th

He's 16 and she is 15

-0-0-

Victoire was sitting in a very old tree, in the back garden of her grandparent's house. Her legs dangling over the edge of the tree branch as she swung them back and forth. Teddy walked underneath her branch and smiled up at her, he felt his heart skip a beat just looking up at her. He gripped the tree and climbed up into it, sitting down beside her on the same limb. She looked at him and smiled, as the bright afternoon sun glimmered off of her white blonde hair.

"Turning the room of requirement into our tree? Very ingenious." She said before leaning over and pressing her lips firmly to his.

It took everything he had not to instantly moan against her lips as she kissed him. Just her touch alone seemed to make the world dissolve around him lately, let alone her kiss. It was like time would stop, and every nerve ending he had would light on fire. He gladly returned her kiss, bringing one hand to the back of her neck and pulling her lips more firmly to his. He deepened the kiss as he let his eyes close. Victoire responded instantly to him, her lips moving with his, neither fighting for control of the kiss, both just letting it take over them completely. She her hands go from holding the tree to one holding his shoulder and the other lacing into his electric blue hair. The passion and need between them was undeniable as it sparked between the pair. They instinctively both pulled the other closer. Their lips crashing against one another furiously, as their lips parted, both allowing the other's entry without any type of hesitation.

He was certain that he would never get used to kissing her. Kissing her made every and any thought that wasn't her go away. He would never grow old of kissing her. He would never get used to knowing she was his and his alone. Well, at least it seemed that way, he felt that way. He knew that this feeling, this would always be there. This intense need for her would never go away. Their kisses became more insistent and she whimpered against his lips and pulled at the front of his shirt. With both of their ties already discarded at the bottom of the tree, his top buttons slipped undone on their own at her tugging. He pulled away gently, panting slightly as he looked into her bright blue eyes. He quickly jumped down from their tree branch and landed lightly on his feet. She watched him turn and look up at her as she sucked in air. He responded wordlessly, by holding his arms out to her, expecting her to jump from the tree into them.

The thing was he didn't need to speak for her to understand what he wanted. She knew him better than she knew herself. He had been her best friend for so long before they dated that a simple look told her all she needed to know. He didn't think a thought that she wasn't privy too, and it was the same for her. Teddy knew her better than anyone alive. He could read her like a book. She gripped the tree branch and slid off of it, allowing herself to fall from the tree. She knew with complete blind faith that he would catch her. Teddy would never let her fall. And he didn't, just as he never had.

He caught her around the waist and pulled her to his chest as he did, his lips meeting hers again before she was even fully through falling, while he was still in the act of catching her. She wrapped her legs around his waist and her hands held his firm quidditch toned shoulders. He lowered himself to his knees on the grass covered floor before gently laying her onto her back. He slid his hand up her back to her head, cradling it as he lay her down and hovered over her, kissing her ceaselessly as she gripped at the front of his shirt.

Teddy moaned softly against her lips when her hands made their way to the buttons on the front and pulled the rest of them undone, placing her warm hands upon his chest. His head spun with her touch. He wasn't sure how they had gotten here, to this point…

It felt like just yesterday they were best friends, that they were inseparable. This tree was theirs because it's always where they could be found. Ever since they were little, if at a family event, they went missing, this is where they were, no matter the occasion, no matter the season. They were always climbing trees and talking, or using something sharp to mark the trees up with their initials. They still enjoyed climbing to find all their old initials from when they were younger. Or even to add new ones. As her hands wandered along his chest and abdomen, her lips moved to the corner of his lips and travelled to his jawbone, leaving a trail of burning kisses in her wake.

"I want to stay with you tonight. I need to be with you tonight" She whispered, her light, hot breath skating across his skin that was moist from her kiss. He trembled at both her voice and her touch. He was completely helpless to her now. It didn't help that her needs echoed his unspoken ones. He nodded, letting his hands undo the bottom buttons from her shirt, and his fingers lightly trailed along her flat stomach.

"I'm all yours. I'm so, completely yours Vic." He managed to barely breathe, feeling her smile against his skin before she continued her kisses, letting her lips explore the contours of his neck and shoulders, her hands pushing his shirt off of him. He felt the fabric slide off his shoulders and slip off of his back as her lips found their own way over his body. Teddy sighed softly in reaction to the sensations.

"You're mine are you?" she asked playfully, softly biting at his collar bone and making his moan.

He had fallen nearly speechless and nodded, his eyes hooded with lust. Words had failed him as his head ran rampant with sensation, thoughts, and emotions so deep he couldn't fully put words to them.

There was a point once, when he hadn't felt this way, he was sure of it. He knew that at one point, there was. But not now, not anymore. They weren't dating yet. He had told her he loved her. He had told her that he was in love with her. And he knew she felt the same, she had told him so. But neither of them had taken the steps to make anything official. They were both hesitant to do so. But this…this was different than any relationship he had ever had and he couldn't even figure out how it happened. It had hit him so out of the blue, and he had fallen hard and fast. And there was no recovering.

He didn't know how things changed between them, when that line blurred between needing her as his friend and needing her like this. But he knew one thing. He needed her. He desperately needed her. Her slight giggle at his speechless nod brought him back to reality as she let her fingertips run down his chest, over his muscled stomach, and to rest on his belt.

"What is going on in that head of yours Teddy?" Victoire asked him. Her voice was slightly husky with lust and from being breathless.

Teddy's breath was hitched as he answered. "You." He replied honestly.

Victoire kept her hands on him, one fiddled with his belt slowly undoing it little by little, and with the other she used her finger to draw idle shapes low on his stomach. "What about me?" she asked him, her blue eyes capturing his stormy gray.

Teddy tried to come up with an answer but as her hands touched his skin, even only his stomach his mind ran in circles around itself. He didn't know how to explain that when she wasn't with him that night's seemed excruciatingly long. That he needed her with him, to hear her voice, and her laugh. It felt like to live he needed to feel her touch, to revel in her kisses. He hadn't ever meant to feel like this. But he did, and he knew that there was no reversing it, no going back now.

He had gone through lots of girlfriends, and nothing had ever been like this. He had realized and admitted his feelings for her over the summer and that was it, he had fallen…faster and harder than he ever had before. He had never felt this way about anyone, in any point and time. Teddy knew there was no turning back. There would never be a point where she could be just his friend again, because she was everything to him now. He couldn't fathom not being with her this way, in every way, even though, they hadn't quite gone all the way yet. And neither of them were rushing to go all of the way. Simply kissing and touching one another. Feeling the passion that ignited in the smallest caress was more than either had ever felt before. And that was enough for now, it supplied all the sensations either was fully ready for. And he needed those feelings, he needed her. He urgently needed her. He just didn't know how to tell her that, so he just went for the simple approach.

"I need you. I love you." He said softly as he had finished with her buttons, and slowly pushed her shirt from her shoulders and slid it off of her arms so she was laying on it. He was attempting to say this right, to say this perfectly, so she would understand what he wanted. What he really needed from her.

Victoire smiled as his fingers grazed her skin as he took her top off. When he lowered himself so more of his weight rested on her and he propped himself up on his forearm, one hand finding her cheek, she looked lovingly into his eyes. She was so incredibly lost in love with this boy. She knew it, and she knew she always would be. She couldn't pin point when it had happened, or how. But she was.

"I need you too...and I love you, so much Teddy." She said, sincerity lacing her quiet words.

Teddy let his lips dance softly along hers for a moment before pulling them back, his hand still cupping her face. "I never meant to fall for you." He told her truthfully, watching her eyes. "I never saw it coming, and I still don't know where it came from…but Vic…I love you, with everything I am. One touch, one word from you, and I am completely vulnerable. It's like….It's like I'm 6 years old again, and everything in the world is scary again." He told her.

She fell silent and slid one hand to his strong back, her other hand continued undoing his belt as he spoke and she let him.

"You both electrify me and paralyze me. The thoughts of not having you as mine are terrifying. I don't have any idea how I fell in love with my very best friend. But I am so glad that I did. It was the best unintentional thing I've ever done in my life. I love you with everything that I am… I need you. I need you right now…But I need you forever too. I need you to know that I can't go back. I can't go back to just friends. I can't ever pretend like this isn't…that this isn't what we're supposed to be, what we were always meant to be. I want to be yours…forever yours, and I want you to be forever mine. I don't ever want to not be yours." He said quietly as she pushed his slacks low on his hips, giving her hands more room to explore. His voice halted at her touches and his breathing went shallow he allowed his eyes to close of their own accord the smallest of moans escaping his lips as her fingers ran along the planes of his sculpted hip bones, pushing his boxers down slightly.

Victoire slid the hand that was on his back up over his ribs, to his shoulder and to the nape of his neck. She gripped the hair there softly, but enough to make him open his eyes and look at her. "I, have been yours since we were two and three years old, when you were the funnest thing to throw toys at. I have been yours since we were 5 and 6 and we held one another's secrets, and got in trouble together." She told him with a small smile that he instantly returned as she continued speaking, her hands never ceasing their exploration of his body.

"I have been yours since I got angry when you left me behind to go to Hogwarts. I have been yours when you had other girlfriends and when I had other boyfriends. I have been yours since we kissed the first time this summer. I was yours even when I told you I couldn't be with you. I have been yours since the night you came to my rescue. I have been yours all along Teddy. I have always needed you I will always need you and you alone. I don't know when it changed. I don't know how I fell in love with you. But I do know, that I do not and never will regret it. I know that I am, and have always been, completely and wholly yours. I will always love you. And I will always be yours." She told him, quietly, looking into his eyes, and letting her own genuineness show in her face and voice.

She knew this boy. She knew that what he needed and was searching for was reassurance that things weren't going to stop or go away. That this, these moments, this kind of need, that this was permanent, And for her, it had to be, because she couldn't have it any other way. She understood why he needed to know. Because sometimes, she still did too. She couldn't be without him. She knew he was asking for forever, without really asking. She knew he was telling her he wanted her to be his girlfriend, without actually asking her. And that was fine, they didn't need to ask one another those specific words, they didn't need to say them or go through the traditional motions. Because she was willing to give her forever to him, no words required. And he was willing to spend his life with her, to give all of himself, and ask nothing in return of her except that she do the same. Words, titles, rings, official statements, traditions….it wasn't needed with them because these moments, were enough validity for either of them.

Teddy smiled softly and ran one hand down her shoulder and arm to her now bare waist as he felt her hand dip below his waistband. He moved slightly to give her access to do as she wished as she pulled his head down, bringing his lips to hers, and kissing him intimately, lovingly, no more words needed spoken. Nothing else needed to happen for either of them to know that within one another lay their forever. They might not know when or how they fell in love. They might not know when or how they began to need each other in this way, or when everything changed. But the point wasn't to know when. The point was…to know that they did. Everything had changed. They were no longer the giggling kids at the top of the stairs that whispered silly secrets and got into trouble together. But this...right now, in this moment, this was so much better. Because that is who they once were, and this is who they were now. And the bond that linked them surpassed any bond that either one knew.

Teddy whimpered against her lips as their kisses became more urgent and deeper and in that moment, he realized, that none of those words were perfect, there was no way to say them exactly right. There was only a way to show them, to show her exactly what he wanted and needed her to be for him. And he could feel what she wanted and needed in her touch and kiss. He pulled away briefly staring into her perfectly angelic face, giving them both time to breathe.

He took a second to run a single finger down her cheek before whispering a fervent. "I love you Victoire." And he lovingly molded his body to hers, kissing her with all the passion and love that he had within him, knowing she was doing the same.


	4. Caught In The Crowd: LE-SS

**_This one was the first request after the story was posted._**

**_I think I might have taken a different take on it. Maybe…_**

**_But I think it turned out cool._**

**_I really really like it._**

**_ANNNNNNND_**

**_It's my first EVER Snape/Lily fic EVER._**

**_So this is for_**

Nonagall

**_Thank you for the inspiration for this one._**

**_Again, listening to the songs while reading will REALLY help it make sense._**

**_I am not JKR nor am I Kate Miller-Heidke Nor did I write this song_**

-0-0-

**STORY 3**

-0-0-

**Caught In The Crowd**

Song: **Caught In The Crowd **

By: **Kate Miller-Heidke**

Couple: **Severus Snape and Lily Evans**

Covers their friendship, from a very young age,

Until it was no more.

-0-0-

He sat in the headmaster's office, his elbows on his own desk as he stared at the half torn picture that showed her laughing face. She was still the only person that truly made him feel this helpless, that truly made him want to change what he had become. He didn't mean what he had become now. After all, who he was now was to protect the only piece of her left. He meant the person he had become way back when. Long ago, when he made choices that he couldn't change now. Those choices were so much a part of him that he couldn't separate them from himself if he tried. But it was for those choices that he was desperately sorry.

He wished there was a way he could hold her and look into her shimmering emerald eyes once more. That there was a way that he could tell her how sorry he was and make her believe it. But even in a hidden world of magic, there was no way to take back what he had done to her. Nothing that could erase the pain that he had seen inflicted on her all because he never stepped up. Because he allowed himself to stay hidden and wrapped up in a group, he had allowed the one person to ever truly matter to be hurt. There were no words that existed to apologize for that. And there was no way to make the dead listen to an apology that they wouldn't listen to even when they were alive.

He looked into the photograph staring at her eyes, watching the joy and laughter dance within them, and let his memories go back. Back to when that laughter wasn't just a wish, but when it was real.

O0o0o0o

Lily was 9 years old that summer. She had seen the lanky boy with the dark greasy hair hanging around. Of course she had. He didn't live far from them. Her sister didn't like him at all. She always pulled Lily away. She would usher her off to play with the other "normal" kids at the playground when "That Strange Boy" came around. Lily hadn't minded much. But there was once or twice where she had found herself alone with him. They never spoke. Not because she was really unwilling to, but more because he never seemed to want to, and Lily, she was alright with quiet. She could communicate just fine with no words at all. She was happy to sit and read, or to just be in someone's presence without having to have a full conversation.

One sunny afternoon she was there, sitting on the swings. Her older sister Petunia had gone off to a friend's house for the day. She gently rocked the swings, bored to be there alone. It was a hot day, and the park seemed mostly abandoned. No one was around to provide entertainment or companionship. Just as Lily contemplated leaving the park, the boy walked onto the playgrounds. Lily decided in that moment she wasn't leaving, instead, she watched him. He walked around all of the play equipment, not choosing to play on anything for a long time. He smacked his hand at the tetherball, watching it spiral around once and then walked away from it. She knew that he knew she was watching him. They had made eye contact several times. Finally after a while, as the sun began its decent into early evening he walked over and sat down on the swing next to her silently.

Lily looked at her knees, quietly contemplating what had made him decide to sit down. She pushed off from the ground and pumped her legs, making her swing go higher, no longer content to just sit on the barely rocking swing. She smiled as her mahogany hair flew back behind her and then would whip her in the face as she came back. It was only a few minutes before she noticed that he too began to push his legs, she looked at him and saw him smirk when he began going higher than her. Well, that wouldn't do…Lily pushed her legs out harder and farther to surpass him and he did the same, silently competing for the highest and best swinger.

This went on for quite some time, until Lily saw the streetlights come on, and from the highest point that she could swing, she jumped, and rather than falling she gracefully floated down and landed on her feet, she turned and looked at him with a slightly haughty expression and ran off, knowing it was time for her to be home soon. The boy looked at her in awe as he slowed his swing. He had watched her enough over the last few weeks to understand and know what she was. He knew exactly what she would grow up to be. He wasn't sure if her magic drew him to her, or if it was something else. The thing was, she didn't shy away from him. She seemed drawn to him too. But was she drawn to him, or to his magic that she could innately feel? A hundred thoughts were playing in his mind as their swings raced for best of the best and as she ran off to go home, but no words had ever left either of their mouths.

0o0o0o

Over a year had passed since the swing incident, and after a few more tries, and a lots arguments with her sister, Lily had actually started to build a friendship with the young boy that lived down on Spinner's End. He told her all about Hogwarts, a school where she supposedly would be able to go, where she would understand the things she could do that her parents didn't understand, and her sister labeled her a freak for doing. He told her all about magic, and everything it encompassed. Well everything that a 10 year old could know that is.

Today found them sitting hidden among the branches of bushes, remaining hidden from the other children. Both because they would simply tease Severus if they saw him, and because Petunia would pull Lily away if she saw them together. She didn't want Lily to "Get a bad reputation because of that Snape boy." As she said on multiple occasions.

Lily didn't so much mind what the other kids thought, but she did care about what her sister thought. Her big sister meant the world to her. So to keep a friendship at all with him, they kept it quiet, and in shadows. Besides, he liked being in the shadows anyways. It was a place he felt safe and comfortable, a place he was used to being.

"You know…you can do magic…You could just stand up to them. Show them all, and they might leave you alone." Lily suggested as she watched the leaves fall around her to the ground and the sound of the children's laughter from the nearby but out of sight park wafted around them.

Severus shrugged his shoulders. They already slumped a little, even at his early age. "I don't care what they think." He told her simply.

"But if they knew you. Then we could all be friends together." Lily said with a small smile playing on her pretty bow shaped lips.

Severus looked at her, his brooding almost black eyes meeting her electric green. "I don't need them as friends. I already have a friend." He told her.

Lily smiled at him and nodded her head in agreement. He did have a friend, however silent a friendship it was. If he was happy with it, she was happy with it. Besides, they both knew, it wouldn't always have to be this way, and they wouldn't always be the strange ones.

0o0o0o0o

Years passed for the pair of friends, and Hogwarts did indeed come to pass. As children they always believed that going to Hogwarts would pull them closer. That learning magic together would make them inseparable. After all, with no Petunia, no neighborhood kids, what was there for them to hide from anymore? There was nothing strange about doing magic in a school full of other kids that did magic as well. But, unfortunately for them, as it would turn out, there was plenty for them to hide from.

As Severus grew older, and more confident in who he was he did make friends. But it was not Lily, or the neighborhood kids, these were friends that did not approve of him being friends or even acquaintances with a filthy mudblood like Lily Evans. For the first three years of school easily accept her friendship. They would walk together and sit with one another. But after nearly five years of friendship he would again try to hide away their friendship. Again claiming that this was for both of their own good, the only way to be friends was to be quiet about it. To pretend not to really be friends at all.

Lily, as it turned out did not like this idea, she had spent years defending him, and trying to encourage him into her own circle of friends. Her efforts always were in vain though. It seemed only she could see the good in the hook nosed boy. And he didn't seem to want to see the good in anyone that wasn't a Slytherin, other than her.

"Sevvy, this is stupid." The fourth year girl had said, her once tangled mess of dark red hair was now sleek and pinned back from her face. Her hands were on her hips as she scowled at him. Her features had changed as she was growing into an exceptionally beautiful teenage girl.

"It is not stupid. You chose your friends, and they don't like me. I have my friends and they don't like you. It's better if we don't broadcast that we're friends." He told her seriously.

Lily rolled her eyes at him. "Firstly, my friends don't, "dislike" you…they don't understand you because you won't even come around them. And you and your friends insist on calling them names, or you let them call me names." She pointed out.

"Potter and Black call me names all the time. Or hex me, or curse me, or prank me." Severus shot back.

Lily folded her arms over her chest. "Potter and Black have never been, and will never be my friends." She said scathingly. "You can't count them. I always tell them off for saying or doing those things." She said, getting upset. "You NEVER tell your friends off. NEVER! You let them say…any of the hurtful things that they want to. And let them do far worse things than Potter and Black get up to."

Severus sighed and leaned back against the wall, his lank black hair falling in front of his downcast eyes. "I can't control what my friends do or think Lily." He said very softly.

"No, but you can control what you do and think….you can control who you want to be friends with. So you could choose to be my friend, to hang out with me, to be around me more than just sitting together to study, in places no one will find us. Merlin, you'd think we were snogging, you keep it so secret." She exclaimed.

At her words Severus' pale face heated up instantly, and he spluttered for words to dispel her statement. "I…I can't be friends with your friends." He said, pretending to ignore her comment about snogging.

"No…you CAN be. You just WON'T be." Lily retaliated stubbornly.

Severus scowled "You'd have me be friends with them? All of them wouldn't you? Severus Snape, friends with pitiful Pettigrew and that…thing… Lupin, all perfect prefect Longbottom, prissy little pAlice Prewitt and even those complete arrogant arses Potter and Black wouldn't you? Because they are so much better than who I have chosen, and who I am and so much better than I'll be?" he asked her scathingly.

Lily looked into his dark eyes that had only become darker, more angry, more desperate as they had gotten older. "I never said they were better than you. But they are better friends to me than yours are to you. They don't berate me for wanting to be your friend. And they are better than the friends you chose…all of them are. They don't hurt people…not like your friends do. And…If it meant you would me my friend too….Then yes." She said firmly, not backing down one bit as her Gryffindor courage flared inside of her. .

Severus stood up, grabbing his books and his bag his voice came out in a growl "I CAN NOT, I WILL NOT be friends with people like…people like…"

"People like what Sevvy?" she asked quietly. "People who aren't purebloods, people who care about others? People who don't hurt others? People who don't constantly fling insults? People like me?"

Severus' face softened slightly but he continued gathering his things. "If they were all like you, it wouldn't be a problem Lily. But they aren't. And Potter and Black hurt people. Don't let them fool you too. I WON'T be friends with them." He said again more firmly as he turned and walked out of the door and Lily sat, watching him walk away, yet again.

0o0o0o

The next year and a half for the pair of once friends was a rocky one. It was filled with angst and sorrow between the two. It was fraught with arguments about who the other hung out with, and who they chose to be around. And Severus started to descend into a person that Lily didn't even recognize anymore. He stood outside of Gryffindor pleading with her to forgive him for calling her that word, for taking his anger with Potter and Black out on her. Up until that point, he had never regretted anything the way he regretted that moment in time. But Lily saw it differently. He thought everyone around her was a mudblood, or a bloodtraitor, every one of her heritage was a mudblood so why would he see her any different?

She argued and told him that his apologies were pointless because she was tired of hearing them. Friends don't do these things to each other. Pleading with her to understand that he was expected to be what he was. That as a Slytherin, and as the final member of a pureblood line, even if he was a halfblood, he was only becoming what he was born to be. She had to understand. But Lily didn't, she didn't understand and she wouldn't forgive him. Not for calling her a mudblood, and not for letting his friends hurt her and other people. After his pleading and her refusal, he stayed away from her. And, to his dismay, she stayed away from him. She didn't try to come around him, or beg him back. For once, she let him be what he said he was supposed to be. Just like his Slytherin friends.

Lily had stopped trying to change what he was becoming, and who he already was. From his eyes, she had stopped caring what happened to him all together. But he hadn't stopped caring about her. He couldn't. She was his first friend. She was the only person who knew pieces of him that he wouldn't even admit to himself. She knew his favorite music, and she knew about his parents. She knew how his father had an evil temper and how his mother would shrink away from protecting anyone and anything to stay away from that temper herself. As Severus grew his father only made him hate muggles more and more. But Lily, his Lily, she was different and she had always been different. She was…she was Lily. And now she was different, she had refused to accept that he made a mistake, that he was sorry. She had become like them. Like everyone else in his eyes.

He walked through the halls alone when he walked up on some of the other Slytherins some 6th years like himself, but two older as well. They were surrounding what was obviously a mudblood from what he could hear. Severus walked up to see who they had cornered, and maybe to join in, when he saw that it was Lily. He paused several steps back from the group and watched silently.

"You're nothing but a disgusting little maggot filled with dirty blood." Bellatrix said her voice laced with malice and hatred as she raised her wand. "You don't get to tell me where to be and what to do.

Severus flinched slightly but watched on silently from his partially hidden place.

To Lily's credit she stood tall and looked at the 7th year girl like she was nothing more than an irritating fly. "Well, that may be so, I may be a maggot, I may have dirty blood….BUT I am prefect, unlike you and at least I can say that I am better at any form of magic than such a prestigious pureblood as yourself." She said, flipping her long hair over her shoulder confidently.

Severus sighed and dropped his head, this wasn't going to be good.

"How dare you speak to me like that….you don't have a right to talk to me like that, you don't have a right to talk to me at all, you're NOTHING." Bellatrix snapped.

Severus heard the whiplike sound of the curse be shot before he heard Lily's yelp. He did take a step towards the group, and Lily saw him as she fell to her knees, the side of her face bleeding profusely as she hadn't defended herself against the attack.

Her eyes met his, and the green seemed to silently plead with him as Avery shot a stinging hex at her and Severus felt his heart clench in his chest. Seeing that he wasn't going to help her even with her looking directly at him, she spoke, well, cried out his name.

"Sevvy….please." she tried.

Severus stepped forward, and almost helped her up, until he heard the intake of breath from the crowd of his friends around him. So he stopped, he couldn't let them see her as his weakness. He couldn't let them know he still cared. Severus looked at her, and in a silky almost silent voice he said. "Maybe you should ask him for help." He said, his voice menacing.

Lily pulled herself up but was quickly knocked back against the wall with a hex, her head hitting the stone and making her go quiet for a few heart stopping minutes. As she struggled for clarity and breath Severus' head and heart were screaming for her to listen, for her to understand. As she was silently pleading for help from him, he was silently pleading for her to understand how sorry he was…but it was too late. It was MUCH, MUCH too late for apologies now.

Lily's eyes were slightly unfocussed as she looked at him. "Help from who?" she asked, her voice breaking as a hex hit her and put her on her knees, her hands gripped his robes for a moment before he pulled back.

Severus stepped away and turned, leaving his heart with her on the floor. And over his shoulder he said one very quiet word. "James."

0o0o0o0o

As those memories replayed in his head, Severus hated himself. And he didn't blame Lily for actually turning to James in the end. He, James was an arrogant prick, but he had always been one thing to Lily, that he himself had proven himself not to be. When the cards were down, James Potter was Lily Evans' friend and he would die trying to be her protector. While Severus, couldn't even stand up to a bunch of Hogwarts students and declare that he was even her friend, let alone protect her from anyone, or anything. And for that…he wished she would understand that he was truly, and deeply sorry.

Unfortunately, wishes don't always come true. And Lily had died without him ever telling her what he was doing to protect her. He would spend the rest of his life protecting the only piece of her left, even if it meant dying for him. Because in the end, he should have died to protect her, and he failed…So protecting her son, was his only way to show to her, that he was, and would always be genuinely sorry and that he wished he could have truly been the friend she wanted him to be.


	5. Never Gone: FW-GW

**_Happy Birthday to All of our favorite mischief makers._**

**_Happy Birthday Fred and George._**

**_-0-0-_**

**Story 4**

**-0-0**

**Never Gone**

**-0-0-**

Song**: Never Gone **

By:** Backstreet Boys**

Couple**: Fred and George Weasley (Not slash) **

I guess it follows ATSR, I never really mentioned George much from this time frame,

It fits in, really it's just George from shortly after the battle onwards.

-0-0-

A light knock had sounded on the door of the room that he and Fred had shared for nearly their entire lives. George didn't look up before answering. "It's open." He called, was that ragged sounding voice really his own?

"Hey George." Came, to his surprise, Harry's voice.

George looked up curiously. "Hiya Harry." He said slowly.

He watched as Harry walked all the way into the room and sidestep Fred's bed, he didn't sit on it as George expected him to, afterall looking across at someone on that bed was second nature for him. In that moment a great relief spread through him that Harry sat next to him instead.

"Hey." Harry replied simply as he sat down.

George looked at him for a moment before asking the obvious question. "Something I can do for you?" he asked.

Harry looked at him and nodded. "I think you should reopen the shop." He said easily.

George's face went nearly white. "You…excuse me?" he said, his voice choked.

Harry's gaze didn't waiver. "I think you should reopen the shop." He reiterated.

"Why? Because it will help me over my grief? Because I need to get out of the house? Because you think I'm going mad? Because it should open for Fred's memory? Because my brother would expect me to do it? Because I owe it to him? Because he died for everyone to be happy? What trite and socially acceptable reason do you have for me, oh chosen one?" he asked, his voice cold and hard, completely unlike himself. Infact, he barely recognized who he was anymore.

Harry, to his credit, didn't even blink. He just looked at him. "No. Because Ron and I are bored during Hermione and Ginny's studying to move up to 7th year and we want to come work there some with you." He shrugged, "Until we figure out what we're doing."

George just looked at him like he had lost his mind. "You…you're asking me…you want me to go back there…to keep you and my little brother from being bored?" he stammered.

Harry nodded once. "Yep. That's about right." He said evenly.

George didn't have a reply to that. It was so blunt, and NOT socially acceptable, and completely not what he had expected that he didn't know how to reply.

"Pssssssst." Came a hiss from the door.

Harry looked at the door and smirked. "He hasn't answered yet." He called. "But you gave away your hiding place."

George stared at the door as Ron opened it all the way and walked in, he gripped the back of his neck with his hand nervously. "Hey there George." Ron said a bit nervously.

George looked at him and shook his head. "I…I don't think the store is ready to reopen." He said.

"Sure it is. Harry and I went over the other day, we did a few cleaning spells…we straightened up…it's all set, whenever you are." Ron said quickly.

O0o0o0o0o

That blowup after that comment had been what sent him out of the burrow. His anger at the shop having been touched. How dare they enter the sanctity that was his and Fred's life ambition? Fred had been the one to lock up last, he had been the last one in the store. No one else should have taken that place. How dare they? George's anger had brought him here to the very shop he had been avoiding. Though, admittedly, it didn't matter now if he entered, after all, Ron and Harry had ruined the fact that Fred had been the last to close it up.

That was a week ago and now here he sat. He sat on the bed in the flat above the shop. It had been seven weeks since the battle and this was the first he was able to return to his own house, he'd been staying at the burrow. Finally after letting himself try and hide for weeks Harry and Ron had been the ones to convince him to go to his shop and the flat. Not because he wanted to, not because he was ready, but because they had made him angry. Angry that he was expected to do this alone. That people still wanted the shop open and expected him to do it. He couldn't lie, he did appreciate that they hadn't given him a stupid reason to do it, something about grief and healing as other's spouted. But he knew what their intentions were now. If they could just shock him into going….To everyone's surprise, including his own, it had almost worked.

It halfly had. George was actually in the flat now, and he had gone into the shop. It was an improvement. But, the shop was still not open. And he was left feeling deeply, desperately alone. His mind raced with thoughts of his brother. People would often call them halves of the same whole but that wasn't exactly the case with them. It was more like they were the same whole…just the other side of the coin. A half could be split, it could be broken. It could be separated. But it just didn't feel that way with him and Fred, they couldn't be torn apart. They were the whole of the same whole, you can't take away they backside of a coin, even if you cut it in two, to split it, half the front goes, half the back goes…It felt like someone had tried to rip away everything that he was by taking his twin away. They took his other side.

He knew that he should be getting past this. He knew that this was unhealthy. He knew that his life would have to move on, regardless of his brother's presence or not. It didn't mean he had to willingly let go. Because he didn't know how to let go. How do you let go of something that you've known since before you were even born? A presence that at one time was LITERALLY a part of you. At some point an egg split and produced another baby identical to the one already forming. They had once been one being. They were wholes of the whole, then, and now. George felt the now familiar lump in his throat and hastily stood to distract himself.

He walked to the fireplace and pulled a picture off of his mantle. It was of him and Fred a few months back, Fred was pulling him by the tie and was laughing as George pretended to choke. George ran his finger over the dust covered silver frame.

"You can't…you can't be gone. You can't go away because I don't know how to be George without Fred. That's who we are…We're Fred and George…You're the first part of me. You can't go. I can't…I can't let you go!" he found himself yelling at the photograph before throwing the frame across the room angrily.

"Everything, all the good things…they're you! I can't do this without you. You can't go! I won't let you! I won't. Come back. Please! I'm begging you. I can't do this without you. I don't know how! Do you hear me? I can't walk alone. I was never made to be alone. You're always first. I need you. I need you to be here. I can't…I can't do this alone." He cried, his tears splashing down his front.

"YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE HERE! YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE STANDING HERE TELLING ME I'M BEING STUPID, THAT I'M A GIT. YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE HERE! YOU WERE NEVER SUPPOSED TO GO! YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE BESIDE ME WHEN I GET MARRIED, WHEN I HAVE CHILDREN. WHEN WE GROW OLD. YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO WALK BESIDE ME EVERYDAY, EVERY STEP ALONG THE WAY. TOGETHER." He screamed desperately at the now broken photo frame.

0o0o0o

George stood behind the counter of the shop three weeks later, it had opened flawlessly and was packed. He leaned back against the edge of the counter and examined the new neon green robes that were standard employee apparel now. It had been his first change. He had needed it, things had to change some to stay the same in others. He watched as Harry played around with some tricks with Ginny, both of them laughing and wearing the horrendous green color, and yet, somehow it made Harry's eyes look eerily cool. Leave it to the bloody chosen one to figure out how to look cool in such a color. He rolled his eyes.

He glanced to the side room where Percy was shooting a sparkling sparkler at Hermione and Ron who were both laughing as he had it backwards and it exploded on himself instead. All three of them wore the same green robes, having nearly fell over themselves to help him open everything up. As he turned to look back at the door his eyes met with the huge painting of himself and Fred in the magenta robes, it hung in the center place above the shelves along the far wall. His eyes were held immobile by his brother's identical orbs and for a moment, just a moment. He didn't feel alone. He felt like Fred was right there, every moment, every memory, every detail of their lives seemed to wrap around him and hold him close. George breathed in deeply, and looked to the young girl that stood at the counter.

"Right…you're next. What can I help you with?"

0o0o0o0o0o

Life had somehow picked up and moved on, without George's approval, but it had. He found himself working and enjoying it. He smiled more every day, and often times it was at old memories. He was even laughing again, though that was very recent, within the last few months.

"Georgie…are you coming or not? We're going to miss the shooting stars." Angelina said, walking back into his flat from her previous place on the rooftop.

His eyes roamed over her, the girl that had been one of his friends since they were 11, and had dated Fred in school. "I'll be there in just a minute. Go on up." He told her.

"Hurry up! It's getting late, and I'm up there with Bill and Fleur, Ron and Hermione, Harry and Ginny, and Charlie and that girl…I need someone to help me make fun of them for being all touchy in public." She said, grinning, before running out of the room and back up the steps.

He heard the door slam to the roof and smiled slightly.

Somehow, in late August last year, the two had found themselves together, and they realized that they were the only two that understood the other fully in the moment. Now 11 months had passed and he was with her more than without her. She was so much more than a friend, she was his stability. She was the reason he was smiling, he knew that. She had even helped him cope with everything after the one year anniversary. She had been the reason he survived that night. She had been the reason he wasn't alone.

Angelina reminded him of who he used to be. And that was saying something, because there was a point in time that he didn't think Fred would have even recognized him. He had become a closed off, shell of a person, terrified to open up at all for fear of losing an ounce of the small pieces of himself that he was protecting. But since she entered his life again, after all these months he was reminded of laughter and jokes. He remembered how to smile. He smiled into the mirror and his heart jolted a bit.

When he smiled, he could see Fred. He knew it was stupid, they were identical, he should always see him…But it wasn't like that. He looked in the mirror and normally he would see himself. Fred was supposed to be next to him, but he was always missing now. But when he smiled. He could have sworn that he saw Fred standing there by his side. He could see them both. Like Fred had never gone. Like he was right there, right beside him. He looked into the mirror and breathed deeply. He looked in the reflection and to his right, where he knew Fred was. He just knew it, it's where he belonged.

"I know she was yours first. And I know that if you were here you'd turn me into an exploding cracker and let two kids pull it just for even thinking this. But…" George pulled the velvety ring box from the dresser.

"With you not here, it's different. And I need her. And I think, I think she needs me too. You're so much a part of us that it's like you're here sometimes. It's like there's no distance between us at all. Like you're right here. Ange, she says it's because our hearts were once one…and that every time my heart beats yours does too. I don't know if that's true…But I know that when I am happy, I feel like you're right beside me. Like I'm who I am supposed to be, who I've always been. And she makes me happy Freddie. She taught me how to smile again." George said before squeezing the box and smiling as he grabbed the specialty fireworks he had created and headed up the stairs after his girlfriend, hopefully his soon to be fiancée.

0o0o0o0o

Years would pass and life would march on. Sometimes George would find himself marching with it, other times life seemed to drag him with it. Moving forward even when he wasn't ready to move. His life had changed, it had not gone back to normal as many people had told him it would. Instead it had changed and morphed. It had become a new normal. The feelings of loss and grief, the desperate loneliness that sometimes still engulfed him never went away, they just became part of who he was. They were an inseparable piece of him now, just as Fred was. He wasn't gone, just as the grief wasn't gone, it was never far, the two were just out of sight, always there every step of the way.

George grew as his love for his wife and family flourished. He learned to cope as he was encompassed with love from his wife, and fell completely wholly in love with her. He would become a man as he learnt to shuffle the darkness of pain to the back so he could be the man his young daughter needed him to be. Today would mark a different day that would move him along this path. Today had been the birth of his second born daughter. For months they prepared and made way for this new little girl, Grayson Julian Weasley.

Now, hours after this moment, George would say proudly that this had been a first prank. Angelina would say that the baby was a trouble maker like his daddy and uncle and that she was scared for what the future she had in store. The rest of the family would agree with them both and were sure that they were all doomed.

But in this moment when the healer handed George his wiggling squirming daughter and said. "Congratulations Mr. Weasley, it's a boy." He very nearly dropped the baby.

"It's a…I'm sorry, I think you've given us the wrong sort." George said, looking at the nurse, completely confused.

The nurse shook her head and smiled as Angelina looked astounded. "Is…Did you say it's a boy?" she asked, dumbfounded.

The healer chuckled. "Yes, it looks like someone fooled the scans. You have a son. And he is beautiful." She said.

George looked down into the face of his son for the first time. His lightly pink mocha colored skin was mottled and sticky from just being born. He didn't know what to do or say, he had been left completely speechless.

"H-Hey little guy." He managed to say, through his shock a few minutes later.

And to his surprise the baby would stop squirming and open his eyes. At the end of his life George would still swear that the baby had the bluest eyes of any child he had ever seen. And many would agree, they stayed the bright blue of his father and uncle. George stared, mesmerized by his son. As if pulled into his very soul. The baby smiled a brief, small smile. Angelina would laugh it off, as the healer would tell him that it was just muscle reflexes or a bit of gas. But George could hear Fred as clearly as he could hear that healer. As if he was right beside him, right then.

"This one is going to give you more than you can handle. Consider it payback for stealing my girlfriend."

George would never doubt that this baby had been a gift and miracle put here by his brother.

After staring transfixed, George placed the bundle in Angelina's arms. "What…what do we call him?" he asked.  
Angelina gave a teary laugh and reached one hand up, touching his cheek. "Well we call him by his name, Fredrick Gideon Weasley, of course."

George smiled down at the baby. "Welcome to the family Freddie." He told his son.

0o0o0o

"Freddie! What happened?!" George could hear Angelina yelling from the flat above the shop.

Knowing that this couldn't be good, George ran up the steps, he found his wife, his 8 year old son and his 8 year old nephew James. The two boys were only weeks apart in age and were both covered in.

"Is that stinksap?" George asked, recognizing the distinctive substance.

Angelina scowled. "It certainly appears to be doesn't it?" she said, unamused.

"We were playing..." James said innocently.

"And we didn't mean to do it." Freddie added, easily finishing his cousin's sentence.

"We only poked it." James continued as if he hadn't been interrupted as he pointed at the pulsing plant that sat on the table.

"With mum's wand. How were we supposed to know…" Freddie said shrugging.

"That the book was right." James finished, both boys grinning mischievously.

It was then that George noticed the book on the floor and Angelina's wand in Freddie's little hand "Did…where did they get that plant?" he asked his wife, knowing it wasn't normally up here, they kept this area as child friendly as possible for when the kids were there while he worked.

"Owl Order." Both boys said in unison as suddenly the small plant seemed to belch and inky black goo shot over all four of them.

"WICKED! CAN YOU MAKE IT DO IT AGAIN UNCLE GEORGE!"

"AWESOME! CAN YOU MAKE IT DO IT AGAIN DAD!"

George closed his eyes and fought back a laugh at the mess the two boys had created and he could swear that he heard Fred's laughter over the laughter and delight of the 8 year olds and the disgusted squealing of his wife.

0o0o0o0o

It was in these moments of his life, in the laughter of his children, in the pranks and mischief of his son, in the smile and love of his wife that George began to live his life, and truly allow himself to let go. But it wasn't because he was ready, it wasn't because it was time or he had moved on. It was because in the eyes of his son, in the laughter of his daughter, in the mirror when he smiled, he would always find Fred.

George realized that while there was more distance between himself and his twin than existed on earth, that no distance was far enough to separate them. Every smile, every laugh, every moment that was amazing a brilliant that he would remember until the day he died, they were all because of Fred. And they were all a part of him. Because they were wholes of the same whole. A piece that couldn't ever be truly split apart.

Fred's love, life and death had forever changed George. But it had only made him into more than he knew he could be as he carried on, carrying his brother with him wherever he went. He always carried him close. After all, his brother was never gone from him, their hearts had once been one, and every time George's heartbeat, so did Fred's. He would never truly be gone, not really. And George would always find him when he needed him most, within himself.


End file.
